TRESPASS

In their Gabriel-Banks-Rutherford-Hackett-Collins heyday, Genesis produced some incredible music, including some veritable masterpieces. However, despite all of the great material that came out from this line-up, they never released a true masterpiece album; each one, even my favourite, Nursery Cryme, had its flaws here or there. But without Hackett or Collins, while Genesis was still in its incubation phase so to speak, they somehow, and I'm sure you could attribute it to either youthful energy or beginner's luck, managed to pull off a perfect album. So while 1970's "Trespass" may not necessarily rise to the same absolute peaks as some of the band's later material, the album provides such a cohesive, intertwined pastoral journey that it is absolutely essential for any prog collector.

While this album is usually brushed aside as just folky, or just soft, with The Knife waking you up at the end, there really is much more subtlety and finesse to the whole experience, and it really gives a good diversity of moods. Take "Looking For Someone", for example. Peter Gabriel is obviously Peter Gabriel here, with his eccentric lyrics and melodramatic delivery giving a hazy, haunting opening. And what really makes this track, as well as the others on "Trespass", stand out in the Genesis catalog is the fact that, although Gabriel takes many poetic liberties in his libretto, the lyrics aren't quite as overblown as on "Foxtrot" or "The Lamb"; the sentiments still feel genuinely human.

Anyhow, after "Looking For Someone" erupts to a climax, the album does generally settle down in terms of intensity, though the energy is still prominent. As I said, the album is very consistent throughout and there are no serious standout tracks between "White Mountain" and "The Knife"; they're all quite excellent. Some particular moments do shine through, of course, but I'll leave those to you, the listener, to pick out.

With all of the mystery and enchantment of the British highland countryside that we see on the cover, "Trespass" takes the listener into territory seldom crossed, a genuinely breathtaking, human, but still magical, view of the often caricatured medieval imagery that prog dabbles in. 5 stars.